Jake and the Fatman is an American crime drama television series starring William Conrad as prosecutor J. L. (Jason Lochinvar) "Fatman" McCabe and Joe Penny as investigator Jake Styles.[1][2][3] Created by Dean Hargrove, Joel Steiger and Ann Doherty, the series ran on CBS for five seasons from September 26, 1987, to May 6, 1992. Diagnosis: Murder was a spin-off of this series.[4][5]
Plot
J. L. "Fatman" McCabe is a Hawaii-born, tough former Honolulu Police Department officer turned Los Angeles district attorney. He is teamed with a handsome, happy-go-lucky special investigator named Jake Styles. They often clash due to their different styles and personalities. "Fatman" travels hardly anywhere without Max, his pet bulldog. The show was set in Los Angeles during the first season. After the end of Magnum, P.I., the show was moved to Hawaii. The second and third seasons and half of the fourth season were filmed in Honolulu. The show then returned to Los Angeles for the remainder of its run.
Cast
Main cast
- William Conrad as District Attorney J. L. "Fatman" McCabe
- Joe Penny as Detective Jake Styles
- Alan Campbell as Assistant District Attorney Derek Mitchell
Recurring guest stars
- Lu Leonard as Gertrude
- Karen Keawehawaii as Audrey Durant
- Olga Russell as Lisbeth Berkeley-Smythe
- Jack Hogan as Judge Smithwood
- Melody Anderson as Sergeant Neely Capshaw
Guest stars on the series included Alex Cord, Robert Culp, Denise Dowse, Scott Marlowe, Leigh McCloskey, Ed Nelson, Leo Penn, Stephen Quadros, Robert Reed, Mitch Ryan, Alan Scarfe, Dwight Schultz, Ray Sharkey and David Soul.
Production
Development
Conrad guest starred as an aging prosecutor in a two-part episode of Matlock during its first season on NBC. Executive producers Fred Silverman and Dean Hargrove decided to use this character as a model for one of the main characters in a new show they were creating for CBS. Penny also guest starred in these episodes, but his character was not on the same side as Conrad's character in the storyline's legal case.
Following the departure of Hargrove, executive producers David Moessinger and Jeri Taylor were brought on to run the series with Silverman. They also hired J. Michael Straczynski as an executive story consultant.[6] Taylor and Moessinger ran the show for two years before finally leaving in a dispute over control over the show.[6]
Straczynski has written that he was hired after pitching a story that let Conrad sit down for almost every scene,[6] noting his own faux slogan for the show "Jake and the Fatman: He can't act, he can't walk, together they fight crime".[6]
Controversy
Joe Penny lost a large amount of weight after the show moved to Hawaii, which led to many rumors about his health, including the possibility that he had AIDS. In actuality, he had suffered from a gastrointestinal virus and was having difficulty regaining the weight he lost. When the show moved back to Los Angeles, it was also suspected that it was on Penny's urging. This was also not true, as the move was CBS's decision.[7]
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | Network | |||
| Pilot | 2 | October 28, 1986 | November 4, 1986 | NBC | |
| 1 | 23 | September 26, 1987 | April 6, 1988 | CBS | |
| 2 | 11 | March 15, 1989 | May 24, 1989 | ||
| 3 | 26 | September 20, 1989 | May 16, 1990 | ||
| 4 | 24 | September 12, 1990 | May 8, 1991 | ||
| 5 | 22 | September 18, 1991 | May 6, 1992 | ||
Home media
CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) released the first two seasons of Jake and the Fatman on DVD in Region 1 between 2008/2009. As of June 2015, these releases have been discontinued and are out of print.
Visual Entertainment released Jake and the Fatman - The Complete Collection on June 23, 2017.[8][9]
| DVD Name | Ep # | Region 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Season One, Volume One | 11 | July 8, 2008[10] |
| Season One, Volume Two | 12 | December 2, 2008[11] |
| Season Two | 11 | May 5, 2009[12] |
| Season Three | 26 | N/A |
| Season Four | 24 | N/A |
| Season Five | 22 | N/A |
| The Complete Series | 106 | June 23, 2017[9] |
Spin-offs
The nineteenth episode of the fourth season of Jake and the Fatman, "It Never Entered My Mind", featured Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes. The success of that episode led initially to a series of three TV movies, and then a weekly television series Diagnosis: Murder that debuted on CBS on October 29, 1993.
References
- ^ "Jake and the Fatman". The New York Times.
- ^ G. S. Bourdain (February 13, 1994). "William Conrad, 73, TV Actor In 'Fatman' and 'Cannon' Series". The New York Times.
- ^ John J. O'Connor (September 29, 1987). "TV Review; Crime on CBS and Yuppies on ABC". The New York Times.
- ^ CNN: Dick Van Dyke interview
- ^ Emmy TV Legends: Diagnosis Murder
- ^ a b c d J Michael Straczynski (July 23, 2019). Becoming Superman. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-285785-9.
- ^ "Interviews". Joepenny.com.au. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008.
- ^ 'Jake and the Fatman - 'The Complete Series' DVD Set: Date, Cost, Package Art, More! Coming to North America from VEI in just two-and-a-half weeks!' Archived June 6, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b 'Jake and the Fatman - The Complete Collection'
- ^ "Jake and the Fatman DVD news: Box Art for Jake and the Fatman - Season 1, Volume 1 - TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
- ^ "Jake and the Fatman DVD news: Early Box Art for Jake and the Fatman - Season 1, Volume 2 - TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
- ^ "Jake and the Fatman DVD news: Announcement for Jake and the Fatman - The 2nd Season - TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
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